The Wind & Waves Still Obey Him

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My wife, Sheila, has often joked that I am more than qualified, should I ever need to (if you guys ever tire of me, and I need to do something else), that I am more than qualified to start and lead a ministry to people who have suffered natural disasters because of what I have personally experienced. I have, growing up in the Gulf Coast and of course here in Dallas, I have experienced countless thunderstorms. I have waited out in several hurricanes as they have passed over our home. I've waited in a closet as a tornado passed by. I have stood and watched in awe as a hundred-foot wall high of fire came raging down the canyon by my home. In sheer terror, I rode out the 1994 earthquake, the Northridge earthquake in California. So, maybe the moral of the story is, you might want to move out of Dallas.

There was and is something exciting about all of those experiences of what we call natural disasters. But in every case, either during if I had the presence of mind, but certainly after each of those experiences, I have always been left with one overwhelming impression: and that is the awesome power of God. It's truly more accurate (as we will see tonight) to say that in each of those cases, I was left awestruck without words by what was really the mere fringes of the power of Jesus Christ. That's exactly what happened to the disciples one evening on the Sea of Galilee. It's one of the most famous stories in Jesus' life, and I invite you to turn there with me to Mark 4, Mark 4. It comes at the very end of Mark 4. After the parables of that day and all of the events that occurred, verse 35,

On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, "Let us go over to[wards] the other side." Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat just as he was; and other boats were with him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?' And he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush. Be still." And the wind died down. And it became perfectly calm. And he said to them, "Why are you afraid? [How is it that] you … have no faith?" They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

This is a picture that I had the opportunity to take. We'll see in a moment from our trip last year to the Sea of Galilee. It actually was a picture I took as we stayed on the west side of Sea of Galilee and Tiberius, looking back across. I say I took it. I don't remember, actually, if this was one I took, or one that Charlie Yates took, but this was the view we had as we looked out across the sea.

When you read this story, as I have just read it to you, we learn from three different gospels of this account. It doesn't occur in John's gospel, but it does in Mark 4, in Matthew 8, and in Luke 8. The theme of this story is that Jesus is the Lord of all creation. And as His disciples, we must not give in to the fear that we are easily tempted to have; but instead, we must have faith in Him.

Jesus specifically designed this event. You'll see in a moment this was not an accident; this did not happen a sort of just one of those freak storms that comes up on the Sea of Galilee. It was designed by Christ, specifically designed to teach his disciples to teach them more about the storms that come against us in life. I think that the legitimate implication and application of this story.

JC Ryle wrote that "the first lesson we can learn from this story is that following Christ will not be prevent us from having earthly sorrows and troubles. He orchestrated this to teach them that. He orchestrated this to them more about who He was. And He orchestrated this to teach them more about trusting Him through the storm." This is one of the most loved stories in the life of Jesus and its message is absolutely compelling. It teaches us a lot about of our own storms. And it teaches us a lot about the one who's in the boat with us.

One commentator puts it like this,

Mark's wording does not allow us to say whether he also saw the symbolic potential of the story for disciples encountering the trials of life. But there can be little doubt that he would've welcomed such an application of this story even if he did not deliberately promote it as many commentators believe that he did.

And I have to agree with those who think that it's a part of it, and I'll show you why as we work our way through. Now as we unpack this account, there are five foundational principles about Jesus' power and specifically his power over the storm both actual events in nature and the events in our lives that can best be described as storms. Let's look at the lesson together. Five lessons we can learn from Jesus in the storm.

The first lesson is this: when we find ourselves in the storm, it (pause) it is always Jesus' design. It's always Jesus' design. Look at verse 35. "On that day when evening, he said to them, 'Let us go over to the other side.'" Notice first of all "on that day". This is part of that same long, grueling day in the life of Jesus that begin back in 3 :20. It is one of the longest and one of the most significant days in Jesus' life and ministry. When you put it all of the synoptic gospels, that's Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They are called synoptic because synoptic is two Greek words "syn" – together, "optic"-to see. They see the events in the life of Christ very similarly. They see them together. And so those three gospels … all describe the events of that day.

And when you put it together, it started that day with the healing of a demon-possessed man. And he was accused by the Pharisees as a result of that being in league with Satan. He was teaching in a home in Capernaum. Then he went out on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and everyone gathered around there by Capernaum, and He taught those on the shore the Kingdom Parables. They got off of the boat, went back into the city, went into a private home and there Jesus explained to His disciples all that He intended them to know from the parables. It was still on that same day, Mark writes, "When evening came".

Now we don't know exactly when that was. In Jewish reckoning, there were two and began at three p.m. and lasted until sunset. The other began with sunset and lasted until dark. So, the twilight period. We can't be sure which is meant here, but it's late in the day. It's somewhere between 3 p.m. and dark. And He said to them, "Let us go over to other side."

The other side is literally the beyond. Jesus wanted to leave the heavily populated area up near Capernaum, go across the lake to the coast on other side, the land of the Gerasenes that was largely unpopulated. Now before we go on, it's truly important for you to know a little about the sea of Galilee itself. We call it a sea, but really, it's a small lake. It's real name in both the Old Testament and in Modern Hebrew is "Kinneret". "Kinneret "means Harp because the lake itself in the shape of an ancient harp. The lake is fed by rainfall, of course, but it's also fed by the Jordan River which flows down from the north up from Dan and flows into it. And there are also some springs, as well. It's about 13 miles long; seven miles across at its widest point. And at its deepest point, the lake is only about 160 to 200 feet deep. So, it's a relatively shallow lake.

The rabbis said of Kinneret, "Although God has created seven seas, yet He has chosen this one as His special delight." Today the lake is the main reservoir for Israel's water supply. In fact, about half of the country's water in modern Israel comes from the Sea of Galilee.

Now, that takes us then back to what's going on there on the Sea of Galilee that day. The evening comes, Jesus says, "Let's go the other side." He's in Capernaum where He's just finished teaching His disciples in a home there, explaining the Kingdom Parables to them. And He tells them it's time to leave Capernaum by boat and to cross to the other end, really; from one end, the northwest corner to southeast corner. Matthew says, "He gave orders to depart to the other side." So, this wasn't a suggestion. That's very important. Get that in your mind. Jesus orders them to make this trip. It was a trip of about 12 to 13 miles across the long way, the Sea of Galilee. Jesus doesn't tell His disciples why they need to go; only that they need to. We can guess; maybe it was for rest; it had been a very long day. He needs rest. And He does exactly that, of course, on the boat itself.

It may have been to leave the crowds and give them a chance to think about His teaching that day; the parables that He taught them. It may be to accomplish specific ministry in the area of the Gentiles which He will do when He gets there. And we'll see that account, Lord willing, next week. Or, it may have been primarily about the disciples. Because certainly there's a powerful lesson that He wanted His disciples to learn. Or, it may have been all of those. We just don't know.

Verse 36 says, "Leaving the crowd, they took Him along in the boat just as He was. And other boats were with them." Jesus initiated the trip, but of course He wasn't a fisherman by trade. He was a carpenter. He didn't own a boat. They were experienced fishermen, and they did own a boat. We've seen already in this gospel. So, they took Jesus along with them in the boat. He said, "Let's go." He ordered them to go. He gets into their boat, and they take Him with them.

The expression "just as He was" probably means that they didn't make any real preparations. This was just kind of an impromptu trip, ordered by Jesus. And they get in the boat and go. And there were other boats. We don't why Mark includes this. It's a little detail that shows there was an eyewitness. Remember back behind John Mark's gospel is Peter, and Peter undoubtedly saw these events. And so, he includes this detail. We're not told what happened to these other boats. Perhaps they experienced the same thing that Jesus and His disciples did.

Verse 37 said, "And there arose a fierce gale of wind." So, sometime just before dark, maybe shortly after dark, they find themselves out on the Sea of Galilee, the lake Kinneret. And literally the text says, "A great storm arose." Or "a hurricane of wind". This Greek word, actually occurs in the Septuagint, of a "whirlwind". This was not a little storm. This was a huge, violent storm. Matthew even calls it "a shaking". "There arose a shaking." Not that it was an earthquake, but it was a like an earthquake on the lake. In the sense, that the entire land and sea were shaken as if by an earthquake because of the violent wind that it was experiencing. I don't if you been in wind like that when the whole house is shaking because the wind's so strong, but that's the idea.

You know it's interesting. Some people read this and think, "Oh yeah, sure. A tiny little lake¸ how could there be a storm like that?" It's interesting how God created that little piece of land. And specifically, the Sea of Galilee. Kinneret is especially susceptible to these violent, sudden storms because of its geography. The lake is the second lowest lake on planet Earth; 685 feet below sea level. The only lake that's further below sea level is the Dead Sea. And it's salt water. So, this is the lowest freshwater lake on planet Earth.

One other important feature of the lake is the fact that it's very shallow. At its deepest point, 160-200 feet. Surrounding the lake, on most sides, are mountains. On the north side, about 30 miles away is Mount Hermon at 9200 feet above sea level. To the west, towards the Mediterranean, are the cliffs of Arbel and the horns of Hattin which rise above the lake as you can see in the picture. To the east, towards Arabian Desert are steep, dry mountains, part of the Golan Heights that rise 2,000 feet higher than the level of the sea. You can see even in the background of that picture, the mountains rise still higher.

So, the lake then is like a bowl; surrounded by mountains, a shallow bowl of water. In addition to that (cut through the mountains and the cliffs on both the east and the west), are these deep ravines. So, what happens is that as the sun heats the lake, the hot air rises and the cooler air off the mountainside rushes in to fill that void. And when that hot, dry air from the mountains collides with that hot, moist air, then you have violent storms. And as the air comes down off the mountains, it picks up speed and so circulating in that little bowl of water is this violent storm. Todd Bolen, who is with the Master's College extension in Israel writes this,

The peaceful calm of the Sea of Galilee can quickly become transformed by a violent storm, winds funnel the east-west aligned Galilean hill country and stir up the waters quickly. More violent are the winds that come off the hills of the Golan Heights to the east. Trapped in the basin, the winds can be deadly to fishermen. [And then he says this,] A storm in March of 1992 sent waves 10 feet high crashing into downtown Tiberius, a modern town, as well as an ancient town there on the lake, and causing significant damage. Ten feet high, the waves were in that storm, just back in '92.

This was no ordinary storm that Jesus and His disciples encountered. Several of these men were seasoned fishermen. They had lived and fished this lake their entire lives. But this storm terrified them. Look at verse 37. "And the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up." Now I've shown you this before but just to remind you, but in 1986 a first-century boat in the sea of was unearthed and a model was built from it. This is what the boat Jesus and his disciples were in would've looked like. It was about … it would've been about 27 feet long about 8 feet wide and about 4 and a half feet deep. It would've easily held 13 men. The boat was moved by primarily by means of four rowers, two on each side. It did have a supplementary sail that wasn't the primary means of getting across the lake, but it helped direct, and it was part what they used. It wasn't made for a storm as you can see because the sides are very low which is great for fishing but not so good for storms. So, the waves were breaking over the boat, Mark says, so much that the boat was beginning to fill with water.

Matthew puts it like this, "The boat was covered with the waves." Luke adds, "They began to be swamped and to be in danger." The disciples find themselves in a most unusual storm; a violent storm, a storm worse than any that any ever encountered. And what I recognize is they were in the worst storm of their lives by divine design.

They were right where God wanted them and that meant in the heart of a violent storm. Folks, the same thing is true for us. When we find ourselves in the middle, not of a literal storm, but a metaphorical storm in our lives, we invariably conclude what? "You know, I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere." "I must be doing something that God didn't want me to do." And certainly, we can sin, and we can do things in our lives that create problems, but God's will often lead us, not around the storm, but into and through the storm even as He did with the disciples.

Tonight, I don't know what kind of storm you might be in, but if you find yourself in the middle of a one of those violent storms of life, maybe the worst one of your life. Know that it's not an accident. It's by our Lord's design. He has put you in the middle of a storm just like He did the 12 disciples. He has a plan.

That takes us to the second principle: when we're in a storm, we're often without a sense of God's care and presence. When we're in a storm, we're often lacking in a sense of God's care and presence in our lives. Look at verse 38. "Jesus Himself was in the stern asleep on a cushion." You know all three synoptic versions of this story mention that Jesus was asleep. This is the only time in all the gospel records that we're directly told that Jesus slept. Of course, He did. He was a human being. But it's part of the essential part of this story, and that's why it's included here. Luke gives us the impression that Jesus went to sleep soon after they left land.

Mark doesn't necessarily, but remember the boat? Here's the picture of it again. You'll notice that this reproduction of that first-century boat shows that the decking in the front and the back. We're told Jesus was in the stern, back. That's the blunt end of the boat normally for those who aren't fishermen. But in this case, Jesus was back there. And it says, "… [He] was asleep on the cushion…." Probably the leather cushion on which steersman sat that was kept in the boat. This just shows how tired He was. It undoubtedly reflected the fatigue of His body and soul from what He had endured that day already.

Verse 38 goes on to say, "… and they woke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?'" Literally the Greek text says, "Is it not a care to You?" This is obviously intended to be a very strong criticism. This is about the strongest thing the disciples ever say to Jesus. "Is it not a care to you?" "Don't you care about us?" They couldn't believe that Jesus was allowing them to face this storm without His help. They were obviously frightened. And that's where this comes from. But at the same time, we can criticize them rightly. Let's give them a little credit, too. Because having exhausted their own resources as fishermen, experienced life-time fishermen, they turn to a carpenter for help. They know Jesus can help somehow. They finally realize that Jesus might be able to do something to help; they had seen His power already.

But did you notice the most important point? Jesus was always there in the boat with them. But because of the storm, because He was permitting it, their first response was to doubt; to doubt His care. "Do you not care?" "Don't you know what our circumstance is?" How appropriate is that? Is that not the human reaction? When we're in the storms of life our very first response is to do exactly what the disciples did. "Well, I'm not going to bother God with this one. I think I can handle this. I'm a fisherman after all. You know, I've done this all my life. I can take care of this boat. I can get us across." Isn't that what we do?

We first rely on our own resources. We get in a storm, and we think, "I can handle this." "I got this figured out. I got a plan. I can make this happen." But then like the disciples, we come to the very end of our resources. And we realize, it's not happening. "I don't have the capacity to fix this." "I can't this make this work." And then what do we do? We do exactly what the disciples did. We turn to God, and we say, "Why aren't you helping?" "Don't you care?"

When we have exhausted our own resources, we often don't feel like our Lord is caring for us. We don't feel His presence. We doubt His love or power. Just like with the disciples; however, listen carefully, Jesus is in the boat. He does care. Listen. Think about it for a moment. Think about what was happening on that lake, on that little piece of water. A little piece of real estate in northern Israel. Every eye of every angel was trained on that little bobbing boat. The eye of the Father Himself was on that boat. There was nowhere in the universe that the disciples could've been any safer. They had Jesus' promise; He had said that He was training them to send them out. So that meant they were going to survive this. And they had Jesus' presence with them in the boat. And still they wondered if God cared.

I don't know what storm you find yourself in, but understand, that it's part of God design. God puts us in the middle of storms providentially just as He did the disciples that night. And regardless of how you feel, regardless of the fact it's feels like God is distant, that sky is brass, He cares. He's involved. If you're His own, He loves you and trouble in your life He describes is like someone took their finger and poked it in His eye. He's in the boat.

There's a third principle we can learn about Jesus' power in the storm. And that is this: when we're in the storm, we must remember that Jesus can easily calm it in His time. Verse 39, "And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Hush. Be still.'" "Hush. Be still." can be translated literally, "Be quiet and be muzzled." To the wind, "Hush, be silent." To the waves and the roaring sea, "Be muzzled."

And what happened? Verse 39 goes on to say, "And the wind died down, and it became perfectly calm." Here's the miracle. At Jesus' mere word with a simple verbal command, the violent storm stopped. Immediately, the hurricane force winds suddenly stopped. And, when a storm stops, if you've ever been around the sea at all, you know that when the winds stop blowing, when the storm passes, the sea is still choppy; not in this case.

Immediately, after the words left Jesus' mouth, that lake with its massive swells, maybe up to 10 feet or even higher, suddenly turned into a sheet of glass, a mirror in which you could see your reflection. It was dead calm. In the Greek text, Mark describes the storm as a "great storm", a "mega storm", and now he describes the calm as a "mega calm". It was stiller than they had ever seen it. In a moment's time, it is exactly opposite of what it had been a moment before. That, friends, is power.

The good news is the winds and the waves still know His voice today. Let me give you a couple of things to think about from this third principle. It's important to understand that Jesus is still in control of all creation including its storm. Now I'm talking about literal storms, a literal creation. We understand, clearly God is in control of weather. Everybody knows that. You go to Job 37, which is one of my favorite passages when Elihu describes the storm. He describes how God directs this way or that to accomplish whatever He wants.

Turn, you don't need to actually turn there, but you can look at Psalm 29. There the Psalmist celebrates the thunderstorm. It's a magnificent description of the thunderstorm. If you never read living in Dallas; you need to read it. It's Psalm 29.

In fact, turn over to Psalm 29. I want you to see a couple of verses. I said you didn't need to turn there, but you do. (pause) Psalm 29. Look at verse 3.

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; The God of Glory thunders, The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful. The voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars. Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the majestic cedars of Lebanon.

Look at verse 9. "The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forest bare; And [where He is worshipped] in His temple everything says "Glory." Power of God, sheer raw power. And you what Elihu says about the storm? I love that in Job. He says, "It is the mere fringes of His power." It's just like the edge of what He really can do.

Psalm 135 makes the same point about the storm. You know, it's like Isaac Watts' hymn we sing from time to time, "I sing the mighty power of God". You remember those lines? "Clouds arise and tempests blow, by order from His throne." That is what the Scriptures teach. But I think sometimes we think in terms of God generically doing that. What the Scriptures teach is that the Son has the power and control over the climatic conditions in our world. He made everything. John 1:3, "All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." Colossians 1:16, "For by Him [that is Christ] all things were created both in the heavens and on [the] earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things have been created through Him and for Him." Hebrews 1:2

God … has spoken to us in His Son … through … Him whom also he made the world.

But Jesus sustains and directs all things. You've heard these verses. Colossian 1:17. "… in … [Christ] all things hold together." They still haven't figured out why the smallest particles don't go flying into space as they have their minuscule orbits, the atom. It's because Jesus Christ is the power that holds it all together.

Hebrews 1:3 "He upholds all things by the word of His power." Jesus Christ is the one who controls our world. When you see a storm, when you hear the lightning, or see the lightening, hear the thunder. When you experience any of those natural disasters, you see the world. When you see the normal things of each day; the sun rise, and the clouds that float throughout the heavens; you see the grass; you see the seasons change. Yes, those are processes God put into place. But they are not impersonal processes. The Bible tells us that our God in the person of Jesus Christ is infinitely in control of all those things, even as He was on the boat.

There's one other little application of this third principle and that is that Jesus is in control of the storms of trouble that He brings into our lives. And here's the important point. He can stop them with a word. But like with the disciples, He doesn't always stop when we want Him to stop it. He doesn't always stop it when they first come. We can feel like we're going down with the storm. But He can end it easily with a mere word when it's His time. He has His reasons for leaving us in the storm just a little longer than we can think we can stand it. That brings us to the fourth principle of Jesus' power over the storm.

The first one: when we find ourselves in the storm, it's always Jesus' design.

Number two: when we're there, we're often without a sense of God's care and presence.

Number three: remember that Jesus can easily calm it in His time.

Number four: when we're in the storm, it's a test of our faith. It's a test of our faith.

Look at verse 40. "And He said to His disciples," He just rebuked the wind and the sea and now there's going to be a tender rebuke of His disciples. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Now Jesus speaks to them directly here, but still very gently. Remember they had awakened Him from a dead sleep without accusations of not loving them and caring about them. You know, I love the fact that Jesus brings that up. Jesus doesn't say to them, "What do you mean talking to me like that?" Not to say that I have never talked like that to my own children or you to yours. He never brings that up. It reminds me of Psalm 103, you know those wonderful verses or wonderful verse that says, "He himself knows our frame. He is mindful that we are but dust."

They were frightened; He knew that. He never brings that up. But He does have a concern. It's clear from Jesus' comments that the storm in which they found themselves, the literal storm in which they found themselves by Jesus' own orders, was not primarily about their physical lives. It was about their spiritual life, and that's why I think it's perfectly appropriate to apply it to the storms in our life. Because this was about their spiritual life, their faith. It was a test of their faith in Jesus Christ. He says to them, "Why are you afraid?"

Literally, He uses a word that would get translated like this: Why are you behaving like cowards? Why are you cowardly? Why are you timid? It's another translation. Do you still have no faith?" That doesn't mean that they had absolutely no faith. Matthew says, "Jesus said of men of little faith." Instead, what Jesus means is this: "After all I've taught about who I am, after all I have show you of My power, do you still not fully understand and trust Me?" Their fear, you see, showed their lack of faith in Jesus and His power. Allan Cole writes, "Faith and fear are mutual exclusives." You cannot be afraid and have faith at the same time. You cannot true confident faith, strong faith, and be afraid.

Folks, understand this: like the disciples, when we find ourselves in a storm, it's always a test. It's always a test. Do we really believe that Jesus is in charge, that He has us there by His design? And that if He wants to, when He wants to, He can remove it with a word.

That brings us to the fifth and final principle. And it's this: when we're in the storm, we should fear Christ more than our circumstances. Look at verse 41. "They became very much afraid and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?'" they actually, (Mark quotes them in a sort of Hebraic expression. They say this,) "They feared a great fear." "They feared a great fear." They were very, very afraid. They were afraid of the storm outside their boat, but they were very much afraid of the Lord in their boat. As John MacArthur has often said, "The only thing more terrifying than having a storm outside your boat is having God in your boat."

The disciples still don't fully see who He is in light of His blazing Glory. But they are beginning to get it in the shadows. "Who then is this?" Matthew says, they said to each other, "they were saying to another 'what kind of a man is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?'" They had seen Jesus' power over sickness; His power over demons again and again. But here they see His power, raw power over the creation, and they began to see just a little bit of who He is. They realized there's something very, very unique. Hendrickson writes,

"Much that is wrong on earth can be corrected." [Think about it. There are a lot of things we can fix. He says,] "There are mothers who can dry tears. There are repairmen that can fix machines. There are surgeons who can remove diseased tissues; counselors who solve family problems. As to correcting the weather, people talk about it to be sure, but it takes Deity to change the weather. It is Jesus who commands the elements of the weather with the result that even the wind obeys Him and so does the even the sea."

We ought to fear Him more than we fear our circumstances even as the disciples did. Isn't it interesting they were terrified when they thought the boat was going down? But when everything became as clear as glass, as calm as they had ever seen that little lake in their entire lives, they were more terrified than they had ever been because they were in the boat with God. Folks, if you and I could really get a picture of who Christ is, our circumstances wouldn't make us nearly afraid as He would.

Just a couple of things to consider, implications for us as we finish our time together. What can we learn? I think one of the key things we're supposed to learn is that Jesus Christ is unique. He is a unique person. The point of the story leads to the question of the disciples "Who then is this man that the winds and the waves obey Him?" Or as Matthew has it, "Why kind of a man is this?"

In this story, you see His humanity. He was so exhausted that fell asleep and stayed asleep through this violent storm. I don't know if you ever been on a small boat out in a storm of any kind, much less a violent storm like this, but you are tossed every direction. Jesus wasn't faking. You know He wasn't lying there in the back of the boat going, "You know, I'm going to wait until they really need Mme." Kind of winking out of one eye, waiting to see when they were going to come. He was asleep because He was dead tired. The spray of the water, the boat filling up with water, the commotion among the disciples, the wind. Whatever else was involved in the storm. None of that stirred Him. They had to shake Him to get Him awake. He was definitely a human being. I don't know about you, but I've been there. Ask my wife.

But there was something unique about Jesus, He wasn't only humanity, there was Deity. Because a moment later, they come to Him, they shake Him, they wake Him up from sleep which is where we would've been. And a moment later, He's doing what we could never do: He's rebuking the winds and the waves so that they are immediately quiet. He is a human being, but He's not just a human being.

You see in the Old Testament, only God had the power to command the wind and the sea. There are a number of passages that describe it. Read Psalm 89, read Psalm 107. Psalm 107 talks about they cry out, you remember the sailors in the sea, the storm comes, they cry out to God to rescue them. And He sends calm, and it's dead calm. It's clearly Yahweh. It's God who does that in the Old Testament. So, the fact that Jesus spoke to the winds and waves, and they immediately obeyed Him provided clear, unequivocal proof that He was and is God.

So, in this one story, we see Jesus in the uniqueness of His person, both human and divine. Both God and man. The disciples knew Him to be a man, but they ended up saying "What kind of a man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" On that lake that evening, the disciples saw that Jesus was unique, utterly exhausted one moment and exercising the power of God the next. What they saw was who was at the same time both man and God.

A second important implication we need to learn from this is that the wind and the waves still obey Him. You don't need to fear any natural danger. Whether it is disasters in nature, you don't need to fear flood or famine or hurricane or earthquake or tornado or thunderstorm or dust storm. You don't need to fear diseases in nature that can attack your body by viruses, H1N1, plagues, influenzas, bacteria, cancer. There isn't a stray molecule in God's universe. Jesus Christ is on the throne. Everything He made still hears His voice.

There's a third lesson. In the storm, there are only two possible responses. And they are at opposite poles. You will find yourself in the storm, and you'll respond one of two ways. You'll either respond with faith in Jesus' power over everything, confident that He can speak a word to get you out of it if that's His will, or fear of your circumstances. We need to learn the lessons in the storm. The disciples learned them. May God give us the grace to learn them, as well.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for this wonderful, wonderful story from the life of our Lord. Thank you for the reminder first and foremost of who He is; of the uniqueness of His person. That we worship and serve one who is fully man, who always will be fully man into eternity because He delighted to take on our form, to become one of us. And will remain like us through eternity. Father, but thank you that He's also like You. That he is God.

Father, help us to worship Him. Help us to see the beauty of who He is and fall down before Him, fear Him, without awe and reverence. And Father, I pray that You would also help us to learn from this story how to respond when the storms come in our lives; not the literal storms, but the metaphorical storms, the storms of life, the troubles of life that come and batter us. Father, help us to remember they're there by the design of our Lord, and that He can speak a word, and it can be done. But He has us there for our own purposes, even as He had the disciples there. Lord, help us to learn these lessons. Remind us, O God, when we're afraid, when we're in trouble that our Lord is still in the boat.

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.